


Forest Here Once, Forest Here Again

by artificialnocturne



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-30
Updated: 2015-05-30
Packaged: 2018-04-01 19:17:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4031482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artificialnocturne/pseuds/artificialnocturne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They say that the first cut is the deepest, so losing Lydia time and time again is salt in Allison's open wound. In this universe, Allison meets a girl with fiery red hair and wild eyes whose life is inexplicably linked with hers and their stories collide more than once.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forest Here Once, Forest Here Again

**Author's Note:**

> "Love, love will tear us apart again." -Victoria Lucas

The story is older than you will ever know. You fall in love with her, and it is beautiful. Until it is not. She takes your hand and you follow her, and she loves you. Until she doesn’t. You do not know how long you have been following her, only that this story does not end. 

Will you ever stop loving me? She had asked.

Never, You had replied. In life, I will stand by you. In death, I will say your name.

The moon is in position. Focus your energy, recite the incantation, bring flowers to her grave. It is done. 

You refuse to say goodbye.

...

The summer breeze moved over Allison’s curls as she watched her father speak to the other elders and leaders. The sound of music and laughter and the scent of wine filled the air. Tonight, they celebrated another successful hunt. Tonight, wounds and aches and exhaustion could be drowned in drink and it was not considered shameful. Tonight, they partied.

Knowing that the people that now feasted and danced had only hours before had blood on their hands made her sick to her stomach. A hunt was an ugly, awful thing. It was dangerous. It was not something to be celebrated. Allison couldn’t stand it, but she bit her tongue and smiled sweetly.

Allison glanced across the marble hall and caught the eye of a girl with hair the color of the sun meeting the sky in the early morning. The girl quickly broke eye contact, blushing a soft pink color. Allison walked over to a table and sat next to her friend Scott.

“Do you see that girl, there, with the lovely red hair?” she asked. “Who is she?”

“I don’t know,” he said as he shoved a piece of bread into his mouth. “But she is gorgeous.”

“Don’t even think about it,” she said, grabbing a piece of meat off his plate.

Scott smirked. “Why, are you afraid that she’ll be so charmed by my good looks that she’ll fall head over heels in love with me?”

“Nothing of the sort. I just wouldn’t want to watch you get your poor little heart broken.”

He laughed. “Good luck.”

“Like I need it,” she retorted, walking over to where the girl leaned against a pillar, watching the festivities without interest. Allison tapped her on the shoulder, smiling brightly as she turned to face her. 

“I’m Allison,” she said. “And I think you’re beautiful. Will you dance with me?”

“How sweet. Do you use this much charm on everyone you meet?” the girl replied sarcastically.

“Only on sarcastic red-haired girls such as yourself.” 

“I’m Lydia,” she said, holding her hand out to Allison. Allison took it and grinned.

She led Lydia into a secluded hallway illuminated by torchlight, and once again asked her to dance. This time, Lydia agreed. After a few minutes of awkward fumbling around, they fell into a rhythm and swayed silently to the music. 

Somehow, though neither of them had meant for it to happen, they had drawn so close together that Allison could smell the cinnamon of Lydia’s hair and feel her breath on her neck. Without thinking, Allison leaned closer into Lydia, and kissed her, quick and sweet.

Lydia looked at her in surprise through long eyelashes, her round eyes giving her the look of a surprised fawn. 

Prey.

“I have to go,” she said quickly, stepping away from Lydia. 

“Allison, wait!” Lydia called after her, but Allison pretended not to hear.

Pushing through the crowd, Allison ran until she reached the forest at the edge of the katoikia. She fell to the ground, breathing heavily, cursing herself for her moment of weakness. Girls with fiery red hair and soft lips had no place in her world. Allison knew that. Her mother had always told her not to get attached, not to your best friend or your teacher or your grandmother. I am a warrior first, she had told Allison. Everything else comes second.

Behind her, Allison heard the sound of footsteps and she closed her hand around the hilt of her dagger. 

“Don’t worry,” Lydia said, stepping in front of her. “I’m not here to kill you.”

“Oh,” Allison breathed. “I know. Sorry.”

“You know, once you’ve kissed someone, it’s considered impolite to turn and run away without saying a word.”

“I didn’t mean to just leave, honestly I didn’t.” She sighed. “I panicked.”

“What are you so afraid of?”

“Everything.” Allison said. “Lydia, I’ve been training my whole life to be a hunter. I don’t have much choice in the matter. It’s in my blood. Do you know what hunters do? They kill things. What if I can’t do that? I’m not fearless, Lydia. I’m terrified. I’m weak.”

“You need to redefine what weakness is,” Lydia said. “I’ll be damned if doing what you believe is right is weak.”

She took Lydia’s hand and stood up, staring at Lydia in thought.

“It doesn’t matter what I believe.” 

“On the contrary,” Lydia said. “I think it matters quite a lot. Now, come on. Let’s dance.” 

Taking Allison’s hand, they swirled in the moonlight, trees spinning in and out of their vision. Finally, dizzy and breathing heavily, they fell to the ground laughing.

“Allison, you’re going to get older and you’re going to do something amazing. You’re going to be so loved.”

“Thank you.” Allison blushed. 

“I only tell the truth.”

They talked until the sun began to rise in the early morning and the sky turned from black to purple. They talked of love, weapons, food and the quiet things in the back of their heads that they had never dared to say out loud. When the forest began to awaken and the birds began signing their morning song, they said their goodbyes and parted ways. 

Allison returned home, but she never did forget that night. In the months afterward, Allison would often wonder if the girl with the soft lips and pink cheeks had been a visit from a goddess or little more than a daydream.

...

Three years, three kisses, too many sleepless nights to count, and four bloody knees passed by before Allison next saw Lydia. At first, she didn’t recognize her. Hair long and tangled, blood underneath her fingernails, so unlike the innocent young girl of fourteen Allison had once met. 

Allison woke up from a deep sleep to find a girl leaning against the wall of her bedroom, knife glinting. Standing up slowly, Allison reached behind her for her dagger. Taking it and brandishing it in front of her, hand steady, she extended it towards the girl. A challenge. The girl didn’t flinch.

“I didn’t bring this to hurt you with, silly girl.” she said, tucking her knife into her belt. “I brought it to protect you.” 

“Who are you?” Allison said, narrowing her eyes as the girl came to stand at the foot of her bed.

“I’m Lydia,” the girl said,

Lydia. With the sound of that name, Allison felt something long dormant inside her ignite.

“I’ve known someone by that name before,” Allison said thoughtfully, touching her lips. 

“How strange,” Lydia said, with a look on her face that said that she really did not find it strange at all.

“Why are you here?” Allison asked, but she was no longer in a defensive position and here voice didn’t sound as threatening as she’d wanted it to.

“I’ve been sent to bring you somewhere. It is somewhere no hunter has ever gone before. If you give away this location, I’m afraid I will have to kill you. Do you understand?”

Allison nodded.

“Good.” Lydia smiled sweetly.

She then turned her back to Allison and walked to the door, calling over her shoulder in a sing-song voice. “Coming?”

Feeling that it was more of a demand than a question, Allison picked up her bow, tucked her arrow bag into her belt, and followed Lydia. She lead Allison deep into the forest at the edge of town, into an unfamiliar part of the forest she had never been to before. The deeper they went into the darkness of the forest, the more Allison became sure that she had made the wrong choice in following her.

Just as Allison began to think that she had been taken here to be killed, they came to what seemed to be the entrance of a cave. Lydia stepped inside, beckoning Allison to follow her. 

The inside of the cave was dark and damp and Allison didn’t know how long they had been walking before she began to see a light and hear the sound of voices. They stepped into a room filled with torchlight. People sat around, laughing, eating, drinking. Only they weren’t people. Instinctively, she reached for her bow and arrow, but Lydia stopped her hand. 

“Not here, huntress,” she said. “This is not your world.”

Allison bit her lip, resisting the urge to throw up as she realized that all eyes in the room had turned to her. 

Finally, someone broke the silence. “Sit down.”

“Are you hungry?” Someone else asked, handing her a plate of food.

She smiled weakly, and sat down.

“You seem human,” she whispered to the boy next to her. 

He grinned, extending his claws. “Do I?”

Allison shivered. “A werewolf killed my mother,” she blurted out.

“A hunter killed my uncle,” he returned. “I’m Isaac. Nice to meet you.”

“Allison.”

“I’m Erica,” said a girl with blonde hair, glaring at Allison. She motioned to a boy sitting next to her. “This is Boyd.” 

She nodded as each person introduced themselves, taking care to make sure her bow was next to her. A precaution. 

Stuffing her mouth with food to prohibit any more attempts at conversation, she watched as the room returned to its previous loudness. As they laughed and talked and told jokes, it was not hard to tell that this was a group of friends. This was all very unreal to Allison. She had always been taught that these creatures were monsters, killers. Now she realized they were just people. People with lives and friendships and families much like her own. 

Allison felt entirely uncomfortable. 

“Hey, Argent,” Lydia said, and Allison whirled around. 

“Where did you go?” she asked. “You left me alone with a roomful of people who probably want to kill me.”

“You didn’t hesitate before following me, a witch you’ve never met before, into the deep, dark, wood, did you?”

“Yes, but-” Allison wanted to say, But I know you. But she didn’t. For some reason, she felt as if Lydia truly did not know her. Allison, however, was now certain that this was the Lydia she had known once upon a time. Lydia’s hair was now long and wild and braided with flowers and her eyes were less kind, but Allison knew her. So why couldn’t Lydia remember her? 

“Lydia, why did you bring me here?”

“Erica thought it would be a good idea to have a hunter on our side. As an Argent, you were an obvious choice.”

“That can’t be all.”

Lydia grinned. “But it is. We thought that perhaps if you could see that we’re not the scary evil monsters you are taught to believe we are, you might change your mind.”

Allison bristled. “This is who I am. I’m a hunter. I was not born to be prey.”

The room fell silent at this, and Allison immediately regretted saying it.

“I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, wait,” Erica said, and Allison looked at her in surprise. “You know, I wasn’t always a werewolf. I remember how it felt to be just human, to be afraid of the things in the dark. Now I am the things in the dark, and it’s just as scary as I always thought it would be. Allison, we’re not telling you that you can’t be a hunter..”

“We just want you to know that not all of us are monsters.” Boyd said.

“I understand.” She said. Amidst the arrows and the blood and the hatred, it had never crossed her mind that there could be more to the opposing side than death.

“Don’t you think you should go soon?” Isaac said, interrupting the silence. “You will be missed at home.”

Allison nodded, letting Lydia help her up.

“You’re welcome to come back any time,” Isaac said, grinning mischievously at Erica who growled at him but smiled in Allison’s direction.

And despite her initial aversion, Allison accepted the invitation, returning to the cave many times in the next few weeks. At first, she only went to see Lydia, but she found herself drawing closer to the small group of misfits. She began to learn more about the way they lived, learned the effect the hunts had on them, finding out that most had lost family members to hunters. 

As she spent more time with them, she felt that she could truly call them her friends, but it was Lydia she became closest to. Whenever they were together, Allison always felt her eyes drawn to her, felt the urge to touch her, to tuck the stray strands of Lydia’s hair behind her ear. When she was around Lydia, Allison felt as if she were more than a hunter, more than an Argent. She was someone worthwhile, someone kind. She was more. It gave her a strange feeling in the bottom of her stomach.

Lydia was always singing, lullabies, dirges, songs of celebration, her voice lilting and enchanting. Careful, Erica had once told Allison. If you listen to Lydia’s song too long, you’ll be put under her spell. 

So Allison listened. And whether it was the magic or the way Lydia’s hair looked in the moonlight, she didn’t know, but Allison found herself falling hopelessly in love with Lydia. Lydia would sneak into her room at night, and they would talk into the early morning hours. 

It didn’t take long for Scott to figure out that Allison was stealing away to see a girl, and he teased her incessantly. He had stopped after she’d threatened to tell on him for stealing an amphora of wine, and he had resorted to making kissing noises whenever her back was turned to him. 

...

 

Allison woke up that morning with a sense of dread. She rushed outside, and was greeted by Scott. Around them, people were hustling and bustling, armed as if they were going into battle. 

“Ally,” he said, and the urgency in his voice scared her. “I think your friends are in danger.” 

“Scott, I have to go, I have to warn them,” she said, breaking into a run.

By the time she had reached the cave, her father and some of the other soldiers were already there. She felt as if her heart had stopped beating. Pushing through them, she ran into the cave. The moment she stepped inside, she could sense a difference. The cave was eerily quiet, and there was no sign of life. Confused, she walked out, and came face to face with her father. 

“Allison,” he said solemnly. “Matthew tells me that he followed you to an enemy hideout. Is this true?”

Lie, Allison, lie. “Yes.”

“Your failure to report this hideout has given them enough time to evacuate. They have moved. We are too late. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“That is all. Dismissed,” he said, turning from her as the rest of the soldiers dispersed, heading back to the katoikia.

She knew that had been her father’s way of telling her he was ashamed of her. On a normal day, this would have crushed her. But today, she had nearly gotten Lydia and her friends killed, and she had the suffocating feeling that she had lost Lydia forever this time. 

She returned home that night, exhausted and emotionally drained. For the first time in years, Allison allowed herself to cry. That night she dreamed of girls with red hair and hunters with fire in their eyes and of arrows piercing flesh. 

...

Over the years, Allison grew stronger and more agile. She trained relentlessly, steeling herself against the pain and distancing herself from the people around her. She became the top hunter in her ranks, and her skill with a bow and arrow was great. At the age of nineteen, Allison began preparing, along with hundreds of other youth, to go to battle. 

From the moment she stepped foot on the training grounds and saw the people she would call her comrades, she realized that they were in too deep. The people around her were young, cocky, expecting it to be easy. Allison knew better. Having lost her mother as a young girl, she knew all too well the horrors of going into battle.

After Allison had finished setting up her tent, she tucked her dagger into her belt and began to walk around in search of food. As Allison walked, she surveyed her surroundings, paying little attention to where she was going. Tripping over a rock, she fell to the ground, scraping her knee. 

Someone ran over to her, and Allison looked up to see a familiar pair of eyes staring at her in concern. This time, there was no doubt in her mind that it was her Lydia. She covered her mouth to stop herself from gasping out loud. 

“Are you okay?” Lydia said, crouching down to survey the cut on Allison’s knee. 

As Lydia stopped the bleeding and cleaned the cut, Allison stared at her in shock. It had been two years since Allison had last seen her, and she hadn’t even been able to say goodbye. The hole that Lydia had left behind still in Allison, and she felt conflicted between joy at seeing Lydia again and anger that Lydia hadn’t tried to contact her at all.

“There you go,” Lydia said, smiling widely at Allison. “Oh, forgive me for my rudeness. I’m Lydia.”

This scene was achingly familiar. “Allison.”

“Hey, some friends and I are going to get something to eat together. Do you want to sit with us?”

“Love to.”

So Lydia introduced her to Cora, Danny, Kira, and Malia. The weeks dragged on, and Allison found herself spending more time with Lydia’s friends. Each had their own special skill, and Allison decided that training with each of them individually and developing relationships would be beneficial on the battlefield. 

Cora was exceptional with a spear, Kira was a master of swords, Danny was a nurse with an extensive knowledge of weaponry, and Malia specialized in hand-to-hand combat. Lydia was special. Her job was to predict the deaths on the field before they happened. She paired with Danny so that those most in need of medical assistance received it first. 

Her relationship with Lydia, which started off with Allison being guarded and distant, soon blossomed and grew. Lydia was different from when Allison had known her before. She was wiser, but she was also more open-hearted and caring. They became inseparable, sitting together at meals, staying in each other’s tents at night, training together. As hard as she tried to resist it, Allison finally gave in and allowed herself to fall back in love with Lydia. 

It wasn’t the same frantic, excited, dazed love of her younger years. This love was soft. It was quiet. It sneaked up on her and before she even realized, it had settled in her bones like fog. She looked at Lydia and saw eternity in her eyes. 

It was two days before they set off to battle. The tension in the camp was high, and no one could stay still. Allison and the rest of the group had decided to steal away from the camp that night and go swimming in the lake near the camp, deciding that worrying about a battle was probably not the most ideal way to spend their last forty eight hours as kids.

They stumbled in the darkness, giggling as Cora tripped over her own feet and fell into the bushes. Lydia lit a torch, and Danny helped Cora up. When they reached the lake, they left their sandals and weapons in a pile on the ground and jumped into the ice cold water. Lydia squealed as she stepped into the water, and Allison welcomed her with a large splash of water in the face. Soon, everyone had joined in, dowsing the person nearest to them with freezing water. 

When they had tired of the lake, they sat around Malia’s makeshift bonfire and talked about their fears for the battle. 

“I’m so scared. I’ve never seen someone die before,” Kira confessed, resting her chin on her knee. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle it.” 

Malia rested her head on Kira’s shoulder, and Kira visibly relaxed. 

“What if I can’t save someone on the field? That will hang over my head for the rest of my life,” Danny said. Lydia held her hand out to him, and he took it.

“When I was seventeen years old, my best friend was bitten by a werewolf,” Allison said, biting her lip. She hadn’t spoken to anyone about Scott since his ekphora. “I felt so helpless, watching him die. I never want to feel that helpless again.”

They settled into a solemn silence, watching the flickering of the fire in the darkness. 

“I’ve almost forgotten what having a family felt like,” Cora broke the silence. “But I think it felt something like this.”

...

Allison had been fighting for nearly two hours when she heard Lydia’s scream. She stood on top of a hill, bow in hand, looking down towards the battlefield. Upon hearing Lydia’s scream, she took her sword out of its sheath, abandoning her post and headed into the thick of the battle. Fighting her way towards her, Allison kept her eyes focused on Lydia. In the confusion of the fight, she didn’t see the sword coming. The impact of the sword coursed through her, and she looked down to see blood pooling around the sword in her abdomen. 

She heard Lydia scream her name as she fell the ground. In a moment, Lydia was with her, cradling Allison in her arms. 

“Allison, no,” she cried, tears pooling in her eyes. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. Allison, stay with me.”

“Lydia.” She reached up and brushed Lydia’s hair away from her face. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not,” Lydia said desperately. “You’re hurt.”

“I’m okay,” she said, smiling at Lydia sadly. “I’m with you. I’m okay.”

“Allison, no!” Lydia cried, sobs shaking her small body as Allison fell limp in her arms. “Come back to me. Allison, come back to me.”

...

Allison came to the forest to think. It was tranquil, and she liked being alone. The autumn breeze blew through the trees, shaking flower petals to the forest floor. Looking up, she saw a girl walking towards her, red hair flowing over her back. 

“It’s so peaceful here,” the girl said, looking towards the sky. “Don’t you think?”

“Yes,” Allison said, slightly annoyed that the girl had invaded her moment of quiet, but curious as to what she was doing here. 

“I like forests. They remind me of a girl I loved,” she laughed. “Is that strange?”

“No,” Allison said, then out of curiosity she asked, “Was she beautiful? The one you loved?”

The girl smiled sadly, giving Allison a funny look. “More beautiful than anyone I’ve ever met before.”

The girl stood on the tips of her toes, reaching to pick a flower from the tree behind her. She held it out to Allison. Taking it, Allison felt as if she had been given a very special gift.

“I’m Allison,” she said. 

“Lydia.” 

“I hope we meet again, Lydia,” Allison said.

“Goodbye, Allison,” the girl said, smiling that same sad smile. 

“Goodbye,” she replied, but the girl was gone. All that was left was the flower in Allison’s hand and the feeling that she had just met the most beautiful person she would ever know.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my wonderful beta reader Babs, tumblr user punkcorahale and to the artist who created the artwork that this fic was inspired by, tumblr user foxesonstilts. Love y'all!


End file.
